Page 5 of Jake

Catherine squealed and jumped out of her chair. “Tonight?”

“I don’t have time to move tonight, and I need to talk to Fiona.” That conversation could go either way. “Plus, we need to talk about rent and stuff.”

“Psh.” Catherine waved it away. “Irrelevant. I’ll help with hiring movers, and we can do it this weekend.”

“I’ll pay for movers,” Cade countered. “Consider it a gift or a mental health bonus, whatever you want to call it.”

There was no way around it now. She took a deep steadying breath and stood. “Thank you both.” Leaving them in Cade’s office, she shut the door behind her and went back to her desk.

Money was nothing to them and it made things awkward, but only for her. They didn’t mind helping if they could and someone needed it. She wanted to argue the offer of movers and Cade likely knew that, which was why he offered instead.

Lauren tapped through her emails and smiled a little. It would be nice not to have to carry her stuff down four flights of stairs though. Even nicer would be the fact that she didn’t have to deal with Fiona anymore. If she asked Lauren to pay the rest of the lease, only two months, she’d do it without argument. Her savings would cover it and this was, as Cade had said, about her mental health.

“Get what you need and then you can stay at our place starting tonight.” Catherine smiled as she came out of the office and walked straight to her.

“I may take you up on that.” She might as well get a good night’s sleep.

“Yay!” Catherine clapped her hands together. “This is going to be so fun!”

“Go do your work,” Cade scolded as he also came out of his office.

She stuck her tongue out at her brother but let herself out. The nice thing about the layout of the offices on this floor was that she had a semi-private office. It was Cade’s waiting area, but she didn’t have to greet everyone that came out of the elevator.

Frosted glass and a heavy glass door surrounded her. Her desk was just outside of Cade’s office door and there were three black leather chairs across from her desk and three more across from his.

She’d brought in four plants and put them near the windows last month to liven things up a bit. Cade had looked over at them, then at her, and then gone in his office, never bringing them up.

“You don’t have to move in with her. I can make an excuse if it bothers you. Don’t feel forced.”

“I really do need out of where I am and I like Catherine.” She felt a little forced, but by a friend with good intentions.

“Okay then. Let me know when my next appointment is here.” With that, he entered his office and closed the door behind him.

In a better mood now, she started on her work. There were several emails to go through, and after his next appointment, they were back-to-back for several hours. Today hadn’t turned out as bad as she thought it would.

The rest of the day passed by smoothly enough. There was one man who had called and emailed demanding to talk to Cade, but she’d handled it smoothly enough.

“You ready?” Catherine asked, poking her head in at six o’clock.

“Yep, I’ll be over after I go home and pack a bag.” Lauren shut down her computer and rose.

“Not a chance, you are not taking the subway there and back. We can go together.” Catherine looked entirely too happy at the prospect.

She wanted to argue but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She didn’t want to take the subway either. They hadn’t even talked rent, nor had she moved in yet, and already she was feeling spoiled. Lauren resolved to remind herself often that this was temporary.

“Let’s go.” Lauren smiled, not quite as enthusiastic as Catherine, but she was excited.

Chapter Three

Jake had a date for tonight, his first of the blind dates that he’d agreed to. Unfortunately, she hadn’t checked the box to communicate on the app before the date. He couldn’t help but think that this was a bad sign.

They’d also agreed not to discuss who had set up each date. It was dumb. He didn’t like that agreement. He also feared who they might have chosen. Not normally nervous for a date, he was fighting a few nerves back tonight as he pulled up to the restaurant.

Eating in the dark would be interesting. Trying to meet someone in the dark would be even more so. He handed his keys to the valet as he got out of the car, fixed his perfectly tailored jacket, and headed inside.

The lights were dim, but hardly what he’d call dark as he walked in. There were a few chairs occupied with other men waiting as he approached the desk.

“Hi, Jake Arnoldson, I have a reservation,” he told the man.

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